Weltschmerz and Anomie: The Life and Times of Students With Gifts and Talents in the Early 21st Century

Abstract

The authors explore the historical context and how it affects gifted students’ psychological and physical well-being. Using Bronfenbrenner’s systems approach, the authors examine events from 1999 to 2022 and how they may have influenced this generation of students. The authors close with ways of dealing with these changes by increasing an ethic of care for one another, dealing with the changes in our times with innovation and creative solutions, and focusing on ways to create a secure world for children that puts care for their positive well-being first.

The Academic Year Governor’s Schools of Virginia: A Community of Learners

“…When one reflects on the history of the United States over the 40 years of the AYGS existence, especially the last 25 years, (ostensibly since the Columbine shootings) and the lives of its student-aged population during that time period, one can easily infer how important the creation of the COL has been in the lives of AYGS students. For example, many of the large-scale cultural and environmental issues that have created unparalleled difficulties, stressors, and anxiety for high ability and gifted students of the period, were documented in an earlier column in Gifted Child Today, entitled "Weltschmerz and Anomie: The Life and Times of Students with Gifts and Talents in the Early 21 st Century" (T. Cross et al, 2022). A few of the unparalleled difficulties that this group of students in general and gifted students in particular have experienced include: a 20-year war in Afghanistan, a vast increase in mass shootings across the US; a vast increase in school shootings since Columbine and the ongoing training to teach children how to survive the inevitable school shooter when he/she comes; the millions of people who have died and who are dying from the opioid epidemic; the anti-science sentiment among political leaders, including those who rail against 97% of the climate science community by claiming there is no such thing as climate change; the COVID-19 pandemic and the loss of over 1,132, 206 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2023) Americans and counting; the arguments that the pandemic was a hoax; the negative impacts of social media on the emotional lives of our youth; the public murder of George Floyd and the shootings before and after of many unarmed African Americans; these examples go on and on.…”

The Psychological Well-Being of Students with Gifts and Talents: From Amelioration to Education

“…All of these approaches will get us closer to our objective of supporting SWGT’s well-being—100% of them, not just a subset. This is important as all the students of today live in a time when the world is full of threats and worries (Cross et al, 2021b). We can help all students, including SWGT, thrive by building on the positive and bolstering both internal and external protective factors.…”